Mallorca gatecrash Barcelona title party

Barcelona’s championship party was gatecrashed by humble Real Mallorca on Sunday who stunned the double winners 2-1 with two late goals.

Samuel Eto’o, who missed a late penalty which would have salvaged a point, had headed Barca ahead with his 29th goal of the season after just 10 minutes at the Ono Stadium, but a Juan Arango free-kick (73 min) and Cleber Santana header (78) secured a comeback win.

Barcelona had won their 19th league title on Saturday when Real Madrid lost 3-2 at Villarreal and Mallorca players saluted the champions with a guard of honour to mark their visitors’ achievement of securing a league and cup double for the first time since 1998.

With one eye on the Champions League final against Manchester United on May 27, coach Pep Guardiola rested stars such as Lionel Messi, Xavi, Carles Puyol and Victor Valdes.

In came youth players such as Pedro Ledesma, 21, midfielder Xavi Torres, 22, and 19-year-old goalkeeper Oier Olazabal.

However, it was one of Barca’s star performers who stole the limelight with old boy Eto’o sending in a bullet header in off the underside of the crossbar in the 10th minute after a great cross from Bojan Krkic.

Eto’o made his name at Mallorca in four glorious seasons before joining Barcelona in 2004 for 24 million euros.

It was a 29th goal of the season for Eto’o, taking him two ahead of Diego Forlan in the Pichichi race for the league’s top-scorer.

No player has reached 30 goals since Brazilian great Ronaldo scored 34 with Barcelona in 1997 and Eto’o is just one short of breaking the 30 barrier.

Eto’o could have had a hat-trick in the first half but found Miguel Moya on top form in the Mallorca goal.

Arango drilled home a free-kick in the 73rd minute to equalise and five minutes later Santana flicked in a header. Eto’o missed a spot-kick in the dying seconds to sum up his night.

The defeat means Barca – currently on 86 points with two games left – can now only equal Real’s all-time record of 92 points set back in 1997 – although there were 42 games in a season compared to the current 38.

Barca are also gunning for Real’s goals record of 107 set back in 1990 and need three goals to equal the mark.

Later on Sunday, Atletico Madrid and Valencia face off at the Vicente Calderon in a Champions League qualifying duel.

Valencia, currently fourth, are a point ahead of Atletico while Villarreal moved level on points following their late win over Real on Saturday.

At the other end of the table, Recreativo Huelva need to pull out something special if they are to stay in the Spanish top-flight as they sunk to the bottom of the table with a 1-0 loss at relegation rivals Numancia.

An 88th-minute penalty from Jose Barkero won the game for promoted Numancia who moved off the foot of the table at Recre’s expense.

It was a disastrous result for Recre and to make matters worse rivals Real Betis, Sporting Gijon, Racing Santander and Espanyol all won.

Betis boosted their survival hopes with a 2-0 win over 10-man Almeria on Sunday to move three points clear of the relegation zone.

Espanyol continued their surge to safety with a 1-0 victory over defeated Kings Cup finalists Athletic Bilbao.

Promoted Sporting Gijon moved out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over Malaga in what was their first win since mid-March.

Racing Santander, who qualified for the UEFA Cup last season, are virtually safe after Mario Zigic’s 85th minute winner sealed a 3-2 comeback win over Valladolid that takes them five points clear of the drop zone.